Page 139 of Alien God

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

Torrance

It really was like stepping through a door. As instantaneous as breathing. One second we were in Sionnach’s sunset-smeared sky, the next I was scrunching my eyes shut against brilliant sunlight. Delicious heat kissed over my skin. Summer. Wylfrael had said it wasn’t winter here.

The mask provided some small bit of shade for my eyes, which helped me to open them, up in the air, to get a look at this new world we’d come into – the Shadowlands.

Only it didn’t look anything like what a name like Shadowlands would imply.

It looked like a Mediterranean paradise.

From up here, I could see a wide, glittering expanse of turquoise sea lapping up against flawless white beaches rimmed with lush foliage and flowers. Behind the beaches rose golden-beige cliffs, and on top of the cliffs, baking in the glorious sun, sat a sprawling white structure. A palace of connected white domes and wide cylindrical towers, all arranged in a horseshoe shape, open towards the sea. As we got closer, the beauty of the place fully struck me. Gold and pink flowers bloomed along the white stone, climbing on emerald vines, and trees heavy with fragrant fruit rustled in the gentle sea breeze.

We descended towards the open centre of the horseshoe shape, landing in a courtyard rich with sunlight, stone, and more trees and flowers. When we landed, Wylf let me down to my feet. I tested my strength, wondering if going through the sky door had had any ill effect on me, but it didn’t seem so.

“OK, this is not what I was picturing when you said Shadowlands,” I whispered to Wylfrael. The sound of waves hitting the shore below the cliffs washed over me in delicious strokes, punctuated by the sound of what I thought might be some kind of seabird.

“It wasn’t always like this,” Wylf said. “Naturally, it’s a world with very little sunlight. Not much grows.”

“Not much grows?!” I gestured to the flowers and trees all around us.

“That’s Sceadulyr’s work,” Wylf said. “His mother is from the Shadowlands, but his father had power over stone, not light or shadow. Sceadulyr learned to manipulate light and darkness and has focused the sun on this part of the world so that, here, it is eternally summer. The rest of the planet is as it ever was. Dark and cold.”

“Whoa.” I knew the stone sky gods were immensely powerful, but I didn’t know how varied their strengths could be. “Is there day and night? Or is it always sunny here?”

“There is day and night,” Wylf confirmed. “Just no discernable change of season.”

I shook my head in wonder, already trying to come up with a hypothesis on how Sceadulyr accomplished such a thing. I squinted up at the sky, theorizing. There was still day and night, which meant the planet still rotated on some sort of axis. But perhaps Sceadulyr had been able to turn this part of the world into an equator of sorts by focusing sunlight, the way you might through a magnifying glass.

“So, it’s only this area, then?”

“Yes,” Wylf said. “But the Shadowlands world is not very populated, at least last I was here. The entire population has journeyed over the generations to come live in Sceadulyr’s sunlight. No one lives in the shadows anymore.” He smirked. “To the Sionnachans, I am a lord. To the Shadowlands people, Sceadulyr is a holy monarch. They worship him, bring him gifts, and beg him for blessings.”

“I mean, I can’t really blame them if he literally creates the warmth and sunlight that allows them to grow food and prosper,” I said. “He doesn’t sound like such a bad guy if he at least takes care of the people here.”

Wylf made a disgruntled sound in his throat.

“He is not to be trusted,” he said sharply. “Do not leave my side. Don’t even stop touching me. Hold tightly to my arm.”

I looped my arms around his and nodded.

Before I could get more information on Sceadulyr or his world, a familiar figure approached from the direction of the palace.

“Maerwynne,” Wylf grunted in greeting as he came to a stop before us.

Maerwynne’s double-crescent eyes took us in.

“You brought her,” he said, shock colouring his voice. “The gathering only allows...”

“Gods and their mates,” Wylf finished for him. “I know.”

Maerwynne’s long black tail flicked across the warm stone. He was dressed the same way as last time, in all white, loose clothing, only this time he wasn’t all bedraggled and wet from the snowstorm. While my last run-in with him hadn’t exactly made me like him, I had to acknowledge that he really was stunningly gorgeous in his own way. His long hair was sleek and perfectly straight, deep red turned to sparkling ruby under the sunlight, his wings and star map matching the warm colour and contrasting with the ultra-smooth black of his skin. And it wasn’t just his appearance that made me think he was beautiful. It was the entire way he held himself. There was a simple grace to his stance, to every move he made. A whisper-soft control that hinted at immense strength under stillness.

“I am surprised, but in some other ways, not surprised,” Maerwynne finally said. “You couldn’t wait to get rid of me when I came to see her. Even before you starburned, some instinct inside you knew she was yours.”

I frowned, wondering if this conversation was going to go the same way it had last time, as if I weren’t even there. But then Maerwynne turned his gaze to me. His attention was like a touch. Singular and probing. It wasn’t malevolent or demanding, or hungry the way Wylfrael’s so often was. But there was a deep and quiet intelligence there. He was studying me closely.

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